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 1 
 on: August 31, 2010, 10:29:18 PM 
Started by John - Last post by John
Interesting material. I will be adding a trolley page here soon.

 2 
 on: August 25, 2010, 11:44:42 AM 
Started by John - Last post by patruns
These may add some history:

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9400E5DF113AE633A2575AC0A9609C946396D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9500E1DA1430E233A25753C2A9659C946196D6CF

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Trolleys-Queens-Island-Images/dp/0738545260

Trolley Car to Baldwin
In 1903, an electric trolley line from Brooklyn extended its service through Baldwin along Atlantic Avenue. The cars were open-sided in warm weather and closed in the winter. It continue into Freeport and then turned north to its terminus in Mineola. "If you wanted anything from a department store, you took the trolley to Brooklyn and transferred and traveled to Manhattan. It was a single-track line, but at certain intervals there was a double track so the trolleys could pass each other. I remember walking about a mile from my house to the trolley. It cost a nickel to go to Oceanside to visit my grandma and twenty cents to travel to Brooklyn. Earlier when I was a small child, there was a row of stables and hitching posts where horse-drawn carriages could park. Only the wealthy had carriages, and we rarely saw a car, but my dad did have a bike."

  THE CROSS-ISLAND TROLLEY LINE, 1909-1919

Late summer 2009 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the beginning of the trolley era in the Farmingdale area. A grand parade and an all-day celebration heralded the start of trolley service on the Cross-Island Line on August 25, 1909, with a sandlot baseball game, a vaudeville show and a community ball.

The first two decades of the twentieth century were the heyday for electric powered trolleys, or street cars, in this country. Ownership of private cars was not widespread until the 1920s, so trolleys filled a vital need. It has been said that one could travel from the East Coast as far west as Milwaukee by interurban trolleys in the World War I era, provided one had the time and patience to change lines repeatedly.

Although it operated for just over ten years, 1909-1919, the story of the Cross-Island Trolley Line forms a colorful chapter in Farmingdale's history. The line ran north to Halesite and south to Amityville, with a major transfer point at the Farmingdale LIRR station. A two-story tower was added to the west end of the 1896 structure in 1909 to house electrical equipment needed to power the trolleys. Ceramic insulators are still visible on the north side of the tower.

The Cross-Island Trolley connected three stations and lines of the Long Island Rail Road: Huntington on the Port Jefferson line, Farmingdale on the Main Line, and Amityville on the Babylon-Montauk Line. The trolley line in Farmingdale came south from Halesite on Broad Hollow Road (now Route 110), and swung west on Conklin Street into the Village of Farmingdale.  On Conklin Street, just east of where the telephone building now stands, the track turned north into a dead-end spur which served the railroad station at Depot Avenue. Trolleys then continued back to Conklin, turning south on Main Street, and leaving the village at a crossing of the LIRR Central Branch on their way to Amityville.

One of the dozen or so passing sidings on the single track line was located at Staples and Main Streets in South Farmingdale. The eighteen and one-half mile line was divided into six zones, each with a nickel fare, so one could ride the whole route for thirty cents. The scheduled running time between the end points was 76 minutes.

The aging of the line's equipment, the difficulty in maintaining the right-of way, the loss of a U.S. Mail contact, and the increasingly successful encroachment of unlicensed jitney operators all took their toll on the Cross-Island Line. On September 23, 1919 after the schedule for the day was completed, the line was shut down.

So ended Farmingdale's trolley era. In their time, the trolleys helped area residents to shop, go to work, attend religious services, and even to attend the  new Farmingdale High School, which opened with a ninth grade in September 1913. Although some complained about its service for a variety of reasons, the Cross-Island Line filled a needed role in its time.


 3 
 on: August 16, 2010, 03:29:16 PM 
Started by RobC - Last post by John
Probably because of strict DWI laws. Though they save lives it must be a killer to the clubs.

 4 
 on: August 16, 2010, 03:27:38 PM 
Started by ffwolfe - Last post by John
There are ruins of a small military outpost in Mattituck. It was used to launch targets that would be fired upon by Naval vessels.

 5 
 on: August 16, 2010, 02:21:30 PM 
Started by ffwolfe - Last post by ffwolfe
It was located on sound shore road on the North side of the island. in the area of riverhead and matticuck

 6 
 on: August 10, 2010, 02:11:18 PM 
Started by RobC - Last post by patruns
Tabard Ale House - Wantagh

Solomon Grundy's - Rockville Center

OBI West - Island Park

OBI South - Oak Beach

OBI East - Hampton Bays

OBI North - Smithtown

Speaks - Island Park

Sutter's Mill - Hempstead

Zoli's - Hempstead

Right Track Inn - Freeport

The Camelot Inn - Mineola

Marvin Gardens - Uniondale

The Salty Dog - Uniondale

Jocelyn's - Massapequa

Chico's - Uniondale

Whiskey Reds - West Hempstead

The Clubhouse - Port Washington

The Buckboard Inn - Baldwin

The Back Barn - Wantagh

The Wine Gallery - Massapequa

Don't know why but all of a sudden started thinking of closed clubs/bars......

 7 
 on: March 28, 2010, 05:31:32 PM 
Started by RobC - Last post by RobC
One night while in an unusually nostalgic mood I put together this list of places, separated by town/location, that I remember and/or frequented as a child and young adult, that are now gone.

Lake Grove
----------
Rickels ( My second job)
Rana's Italian Restaurant
Mini-Golf course
Strathmore Bagels
Dime Savings Bank
Crazy Eddie's
Big Barry's
TSS
Harrow's
Cheap John's
Coco's

Smithhaven Mall
---------------
Michael's trading post
glass elevator
jack lalane
barricini
family melody
sam goody
jean country
mcrory's
Import Alley
Electric organ shop
A&S
Espresso Pizza
Orange Julius
Beefsteak Charlie's
Huffman Cohen vision
Craft shop
Friendly's
Danskin
European American Bank
THe Head Shop
Time Out
Herman's Sporting Goods
Kaybee Toys
Fluff n Stuff
Buster Brown
Hodor Dinettes
Seaman's bank


Smithtown
---------
Grand Union
Pergament
The Villager
Child World
Friendly's
Chateau Rose
Tri COunty Flea Market/ Island Recreational
Blue Bird
Pizza Hut
David Brown Hardware (My first job)

St James
--------
Suffolk Stores
Yeow Yee
Studio 25 roller rink

Nesconset
---------
Bob and Mac's
TNP Pizza
General Store
Flower Time
Gas stations on corner of 347/smithtown blvd
Nu Dawn Deli (library shopping center)
Tomino's video store
Home Video by Bob and Mac's
old Handy Pantry
Gobes Insurance

Sunrise Hwy
-----------
Flower Time
112 Home Depot
Sears

Mt Sinai
--------
Big Barry's
Rocky Point driving range


Ronkonkoma
----------
Pizza Hut
Cheap John's
Caldor's

Patchogue
---------
Caldor's
Spartan Electronics

 8 
 on: November 16, 2009, 08:35:41 PM 
Started by Jason(topbladenyc) - Last post by Quarter Pole
I'm very interested in LI history in Hempstead and surrounding area but this place seems to have gone to sleep. Sad to see.

 9 
 on: July 21, 2009, 05:58:45 PM 
Started by Jason(topbladenyc) - Last post by Jason(topbladenyc)
what happened to everybody.  There hasnt been a post here in months.

 10 
 on: March 25, 2009, 11:27:34 PM 
Started by John - Last post by Kevin
I hope that everyone can make it down. It will be a great day.

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